The roar of the avalanche rolled across the mountains as two figures raced down from the snowy summit.
Ye Jingtang's successive fierce battles had not lasted long, but they had clearly taken a heavy toll. He panted like an ox as he ran. His black robes looked little different, but blood seeping from his shoulder and chest had soaked both their clothes.
With his left arm impaired and still carrying his spear, running with someone in his arms was awkward. Ye Jingtang simply slung the Empress Dowager over his right shoulder, hooking his arm behind her knees like a bandit carrying off a young wife.
The Empress Dowager lay over his shoulder, bouncing like blossoms trembling on their branches, but she had no attention to spare for that. Turning to see the horrifying wound on Ye Jingtang's shoulder, she was badly frightened. Her face turned paper-white, and her words tumbled out incoherently:
"Ye Jingtang... you..."
Ye Jingtang's wounds were not fatal, but neither were they light. A cleaving spear strike had opened a wound on his shoulder deep enough to expose bone, and his chest had taken another blow. Without the Flame-Rebirth Diagram's powerful ability to staunch bleeding, sprinting under such strain would probably have already caused excessive blood loss.
His nerves had yet to relax after the bloody battle, so the pain was not particularly intense. Ye Jingtang remained quite composed. Seeing that the Empress Dowager had been frightened to tears, he reassured her:
"I'm fine. I have the Flame-Rebirth Diagram. Once the wounds are bandaged, a few days' rest will do."
"It's all my fault..."
Deep guilt showed in the Empress Dowager's eyes. She wanted to raise a hand to cover his bleeding shoulder, but lying behind him, she could not quite reach.
As she moved, however, Ye